Fifteen Years of Loyalty
by RobinIV
Summary: What happens when Tim & Ives go to a comic book store...in another dimension. Dedicated to the Robin comic that has now ended and my comic book store for keeping it stocked all these years.
1. Another Dimension

Fifteen Years of Loyalty

By: Kelly M. Maraglia

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any Batman or Robin related characters, I simply enjoy them.

I just obtained issue #183 of Robin and wanted to show my appreciation

For a comic I have read religiously for the past fifteen years and for my

Local _New England Comics_, which I do not own, for supplying me with

That comic for the past fifteen years. I obviously don't own _Watchmen_.

Tim Drake was genuinely enjoying himself on a nice, relaxing Saturday afternoon, simply hanging out with his friend, Ives. He reflected back on everything that has happened with final crisis, Batman dying, the General, and Spoiler and anxious about the upcoming battle for the cowl that he felt justified in taking an afternoon off.

The two teenagers had already hit the mall and the movies to see _Watchmen_, when they spotted a street that looked different.

"Where the hell are we Tim?" Ives asked with a slight note of panic in his voice.

"I'm not sure Ives." Tim replied, his detective mind already taking in as many details and trying to come up with an explanation as to where they were.

"Okay, we just left the movie theater and we took a right and were headed downtown, right?" Tim asked his slightly panicky friend, trying to reason it out. At Ives nod, Tim continued.

"So now we're here on Crescent Moon Avenue in some city that is not Gotham." Tim finished.

"This can't be Gotham, it's too clean." Ives said with a nervous chuckle. Tim smirked slightly and made a mental map of their new location.

Crescent Moon Avenue was a rather busy street with much traffic and activities. On one side of the street, there was a pizza place, a grocery store, a game store and a few other small shops. On the other side of the street, there was a fast food place, two dollar stores, an Asian food place, a small gym and a comic book store.

"Hey Tim, since we're here, why don't we check out the comic book store, it's been ages!" Ives suggested, calming down from his panicked state.

"What do you mean ages, you buy comics every week." Tim teased.

"I know and last Wednesday was ages ago." Ives returned. The two friends laughed and walked to the local comic shop.

End Chapter One


	2. The Comic Book Store

Fifteen Years of Loyalty chapter 2

By: Kelly M. Maraglia

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any Batman or Robin related characters, I simply enjoy them.

I just obtained issue #183 of Robin and wanted to show my appreciation

For a comic I have read religiously for the past fifteen years and for my

Local _New England Comics_, which I do not own, for supplying me with

That comic for the past fifteen years.

Tim and Ives entered the small comic shop and were amazed at how much overwhelming Geekdom was in one small store. The shop had not only comics, but manga, graphic novels, wallscrolls, DVDs, action figures, statues, role-playing and board games, posters, collectible trading cards and card games. If it had a video game system it would have been perfect.

"Tim, I've died and gone to Nerd Heaven." Ives said dramatically causing Tim to shake his head. The two started to wander around the store until something caught Tim's eye – lots of some things – Batman comic books.

'I gotta check these out.' He thought to himself. He picked one up and began to thumb through it. What he saw shocked him.

'In this comic, they reveal Batman's identity! That can't be!' He thought in alarm.

"Hey what are you reading?" Ives said over his shoulder, making Tim jump. He had been so engrossed in the comic that he hadn't felt Ives standing behind him.

"I wanted to see how good the Batman comics were outside of Gotham City." He said to Ives, earning a bizarre look from the comic book store guy. The owner was about to come over to the two teens when he was distracted by another customer entering the store.

"Yo Tim, check it out, a female nerd!" Ives said in an excited whisper.

"They do exist you know Ives." Tim returned with a sigh.

"Yeah, but she looks like an adult." Ives commented.

Tim saw that Ives was correct. The woman who entered the shop was short in height but obviously an adult. She wore casual business attire, a long black leather coat covering that and a black baseball cap supporting the local baseball team. She pulled a stray lock of her chestnut brown hair over her ear and adjusted her glasses as she approached the counter.

"Hello, it's your long-lost Robin fanatic, here to pick up my comics. Sorry it took me so long to get here. Thanks for holding them." The woman said as she accepted a pile of comics from the owner.

'Robin fanatic, what does she mean by that?' Tim thought to himself and decided to observe the woman.

She took the pile over to the comic book boxes and started to sort through them, checking them against a significantly long list as she did so. She looked at one comic longer than the others, almost as if she were pondering if she wanted it or not. After a few moments she placed it on top and returned the pile to the counter.

"Okay, I'll be getting all these and now I'm sad." She said and put a pouting look on her face.

"Why is she sad?" Ives whispered. Tim shook his head uncertain, but he was convinced it had something to do with that comic on top of the pile.

Sure enough, the woman held up the comic on top.

"Well, it's not like he's dead." The comic book store guy replied.

"I know, but that's fifteen years of loyalty right there." The woman sighed.

"He'll probably become Red Robin now." The owner suggested.

"Maybe, I'm not too fond of the costume though. I didn't mind Jason being Red Robin, but Tim I like best in red and green." The woman responded.

'What, they're talking about me? How much do they know?' Tim thought in a panic.

End chapter 2


	3. Nerd Battle Finale

Fifteen Years of Loyalty final chapter

By: Kelly M. Maraglia

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any Batman or Robin related characters, I simply enjoy them.

I just obtained issue #183 of Robin and wanted to show my appreciation

For a comic I have read religiously for the past fifteen years and for my

Local _New England Comics_, which I do not own, for supplying me with

That comic for the past fifteen years.

At that moment, another customer entered the store and the owner seemed to get nervous.

"I'm going to look around for some more comics on my list, can I leave these here?" The Robin fan asked.

"Sure, no problem," The owner replied. The woman smiled and started to walk away with her list.

"Someone has lousy taste in comics," The new customer sneered.

The woman turned around to see if she were the one being addressed and sure enough, the new customer was looking directly at her.

"Everyone's entitled to their tastes, sir, I'm sorry you don't share mine." She said politely and turned to walk away.

"Jerk," she muttered under her breath.

Tim and Ives stifled their laughter.

"I'm a classic comic book fan, young lady, and besides what would a woman like you know about comics anyway?" The classic fan replied.

The owner slapped his head with his hand as the two fans faced off.

"Oh sweet, Nerd Battle, my money's on the woman. What do you think Tim?" Ives said excitedly, but Tim had moved to the owner's side to get more information.

"What's going on here?" Tim asked the owner.

"I was hoping these two customers would never meet. Aaron is an older fan so he enjoys the original Teen Titans, the original sidekicks, etc. Kelly is a younger fan. She's always followed the newer superheroes like the current Robin, the new Teen Titans, etc." The owner explained.

"I heard her refer to herself as a Robin fanatic." Tim added, hoping to get some more information.

"Yes, she's sad because Robin's monthly comic is ending and she's been collecting it here longer than I've worked here. The current Robin is her favorite hero of all time. In fact, she bought a resin statue of him off me once. I named my price and she said 'sold.' I was concerned about these two because they're both so passionate about their favorites." The owner explained further.

"Superman is the best superhero of all time and the Justice League is the best team!" Aaron said loudly.

"That's your opinion and you're entitled to it. I disagree but I can respect why you feel that way." Kelly replied assertively.

"Who are your favorites then?" Aaron asked with a sneer.

"My favorite superhero is Robin, the third Robin and my favorite team was Young Justice." Kelly replied with a smile.

"Good thing DC killed most of them off." Aaron said with a nasty smirk.

"I suppose even DC makes mistakes, ahem, crappy blue lightning costume, *cough*." Kelly replied, referencing a dark period in Superman history.

"How dare you! Well at least that fake one is dead." Aaron argued, insulted by Kelly's last comment.

"Fake one?" Kelly asked in a confused tone.

"Yeah, Superman's stupid clone." Aaron specified.

Tim narrowed his eyes and clenched his fist.

"How dare you, sir. How dare you talk about Kon-el that way! I bawled my eyes out when they killed off him and Bart. I can only hope DC rectifies their mistakes." Kelly said while biting back her anger.

"Let's hope they kill off the current Robin and Teen Titans, too, and then there'll be no more stupid sidekicks!" Aaron announced and walked away.

"You monster, I bet you called in for him to die, didn't you?" Kelly accused.

"What does she mean?" Tim asked the owner, who shrugged in response. Ives joined them.

"This is great! What a true nerd battle!" He exclaimed, his arms full of comics and role-playing gear.

"You called in for Jason Todd to die didn't you?" Kelly accused again.

Tim's eyes went wide.

"Yes I did, and apparently, a lot of others agreed with me. In fact, you should thank me because if he didn't die, your favorite wouldn't have become Robin!" Aaron confirmed.

"That may be true, but Jason was only thirteen or fourteen years old. That is just sick. I am done with this conversation. I am getting my comics and leaving." Kelly replied, disgusted by Aaron's revelation.

"What was that?" Time asked the owner.

"Oh, fans really didn't like the second Robin so when he was caught in an explosion, there was a number you could call if you wanted him to live or die." The owner started to explain.

"And Jason lost his life by 72 votes," Kelly finished as she approached the counter with a few others to add to her pile.

"Sorry about the nerd battle, but he started it." She said with a smile.

"That was the greatest nerd battle I've ever seen. I'm Ives, by the way, and this is my best friend Tim." Ives introduced himself and Tim to Kelly.

Tim noticed Kelly's eyes twitch when Ives said his name, but they went wide when Tim, himself, was introduced.

"Oh, well, let me say it is an honor to meet both of you. My name is Kelly, but around here, I'm known as the Robin fanatic. In fact, the first owner to this place didn't even know my name for the longest time. I was just 'Robin' to him." Kelly returned the introductions.

"Did you really cry over a comic though?" Ives asked as Kelly paid for her purchases.

"Yes, you see to me, they were more than comic book characters. It's almost like they were dear friends who were lost to me. When you follow a story for fifteen years, it becomes a part of your life." Kelly explained.

With that, she bought her comics, smiled at the owner, nodded to the teens and left the store. Tim followed her outside, while Ives bought his comics.

"Tim, was it? What was it that you wanted to know?" She asked.

"I just wanted to know what you would say to Robin if you met him." He asked.

"Oh, that's easy. I would tell him to get back together with Spoiler because I've been rooting them on as a couple for fifteen years." Kelly began. Tim blushed.

"And I would tell him to never become Batman. I would tell him to overcome the darkness and not let it eat him up inside. I would tell him that he is never alone and to never lose faith in himself. And that he is my hero. That is all." Kelly said with a smile, gave Tim a small hug and walked back to her car.

"Dude, you got a hug! You suck, how come you get all the girls?" Ives complained when he exited the store.

Tim just smiled as he watched Kelly drive her car around. She waved as she approached them and as the car passed the two teens they were suddenly back in Gotham City.

"Uh, Tim, did we just imagine that?" Ives asked.

"If we did, where did you get those comics?" Tim relied, pointing to Ives' comic bag.

The two teens shrugged and made their separate ways home.

That night when Robin swung over the rooftops, he allowed himself a smile and made his way toward Spoiler's home.

The End


End file.
